Nonprofit presents $1.2M to Children’s Hospital of Georgia

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Children’s Hospital of Georgia received a $1.2 million donation from CureSearch.

This money will help clinical trials for pediatric cancer patients and treatment therapies.

Michael Miller’s family knows about the effects of cancer more than most.

“My daughter says that we are the luckiest unlucky family in America. We’ve had four cancers,” said Miller, CureSearch for Children’s Cancer board member.

Around 25 years ago, his daughter was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

“At that time, I opened up an old textbook that said, and this is the first sentence, “leukemia: an almost always fatal blood disease”,” he said.

Because of these experiences, Miller decided to get involved with CureSearch for Children’s Cancer.

Libby Fennell is the director of development for CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. She said, “At CureSearch, our mission is to fund pediatric cancer research in early-phase clinical trials that are on a fast track to being a drug and a therapy that can be used for children facing the hardest cancers with the highest unmet need.”

This award will fund research aimed at developing therapy and treating children with relapsed brain tumors.

“Through the research that’s being done here, and throughout the country, 91 percent of the children survive ALL leukemia, and we want to get brain cancer into that same category of survival,” said Fennell.

For Miller and his family, projects like these are a matter of life or death.

“My wife has had breast cancer, my daughter has had leukemia, I’ve had two types of cancer, and yet because of science, because of research, because research dollars have gone to finding cures, we are all here today,” said Miller.

CureSearch hopes this funding will help doctors give children new, less intense options for treatment and improve their quality of life.

On Thursday, the Children’s Hospital of Georgia got a $5,000 donation thanks to Dunkin Donuts and everybody who bought an iced coffee there during the chain’s iced coffee day last month.

Each iced coffee bought in Augusta and Savannah on May 23 went towards Thursday’s check presented to the hospital.

A Dunkin Mascot was there, as well as some goodies, like coffee and gift cards, for those who work at the hospital.

Nationally, Dunkin Donuts raised more than $1.6 million this year as part of this fundraiser, all of which goes to children’s hospitals across the U.S.

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